by Nancy Adams
Copyright
Altered Engagement
Copyright © 2017 by Nancy Adams.
All right reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
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Published by: Nancy Adams
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Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
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1
Saturday, June 7th, 2014
If there was one thing that Katie Lou Brennan knew, it was that being married to Darren Allsip was going to be the most wonderful thing she could ever have imagined, and now that their wedding day was only three weeks away, she was bouncing back and forth between nervousness and excitement. Everything was done, as far as she could tell; the arrangements had all been made, the food was set for delivery, the dress was—okay, the dress was divine, and everything else that could be prepared in advance had been set up with as many contingency plans as possible, “just in case” anything could possibly go wrong!
Of course, something would go wrong. Something always did when you were ready for the happiest, most exciting, most wonderfully delicious moment of your life. The trick, her Aunt Regina had told her, was to minimize the possibilities and then take the punches life threw with your chin jutted out and your fist ready to wallop right back! Aunt Regina was actually her great aunt, and had grown up during the fifties, when being tough was the way things were done; she had absolutely no clue what life was like for a young woman today, but Katie loved her anyhow.
Katie's mom, Judy, was a brick, and Katie Lou knew that she'd never have gotten all of the arrangements made without her. She'd made a thousand phone calls and written out hundreds of invitations; she'd gone through catalogs of decorations and flower arrangements, and done so many other things that only the mother of a bride could do properly, of course…
She looked at the time. Goodness, Darren would be here any minute, and she didn't even have her makeup on. She knew he got a little irritated when she wasn't ready as soon as he arrived to pick her up, but he always got over it. Impatience was just one of his little flaws. He always wanted the world to work on his time schedule, rather than expecting him to conform to the one everyone else lived by. That, he felt, was simply not fair to him, and she loved to tease him about it.
“That's what you get,” her mother said to her many times, “for deciding to marry a lawyer. If there's one thing they can't stand, it's the idea that they aren't in control of whatever is going on.”
“Believe me, Mom, I know,” Katie Lou said once in reply. “It's taken me two years to convince him he's not in control of our engagement, and it still drives him crazy. He'll be okay, though, cause he's got me to get him through it all. I can handle him.” She giggled at how it sounded, and her mom giggled right back at her.
She went to the bathroom and began “putting her face on,” as she termed it. She didn't use a lot of makeup anyway, so it wasn't like it was all that time consuming; why, she'd be done in less than a half hour, and if Darren got there earlier than that, then he could just wait. With all that was going on, she figured she was entitled to a little bit of making him wait, anyhow!
Katie Lou heard the doorbell a few minutes later, and hurriedly finished. She knew she'd find Darren in the kitchen with her dad, Allen. They always went to the kitchen when he showed up, as if it were some sort of “men's club” where they could drink coffee and swap war stories. Her father was a mechanic, and had known Darren's dad since they were kids. He and Darren would laugh over some of the stories he could tell about Darren's old man, especially the ones from back in high school.
With her makeup all done, she slid into the new bikini she'd bought, and then pulled her shorts and blouse on over it. It was a little risqué, but not that much; she just didn't want to see the disapproving look her father would give her if he saw her in it, so covering it up seemed prudent.
Katie came into the kitchen and, sure enough, there they sat, mugs in front of them and laughing up a storm. There was something about seeing them together that Katie loved, because it spoke of a long future together; knowing that her father liked her fiancé meant a lot to Katie Lou, and hearing them laughing together made her smile.
“Okay, Guys,” she said, “hate to break up the gab fest, but Darren is my date, Dad, not yours, and he's promised me a wonderful day on the lake! You can have him back later, and tell him all about how you and his dad got caught breaking into the girls' locker room, okay?”
Allen sputtered. “Why, Katie Lou, you know very well that that isn't true!” he said. “We never got caught, not one single time!”
Darren laughed, rising from his chair. He kissed Katie lightly and said, “Wow, Baby, you look great! Got your bathing suit on under there?”
She grinned. “Of course,” she said. “I'm gonna get some sun, today.” She caught her father's slight frown, and wondered if he'd seen the bathing suit lying on her bed that morning. She couldn't recall if she'd left it out while she showered, or got it out after, but she wasn't going to let a frown ruin what was bound to be a wonderful day.
Darren grinned back. “Then I'm all set if you are. I went by yesterday and made sure the boat was clean and gassed up, and I've got lunch in a basket in the car. Ready?”
Judy smiled from where she stood at the counter. “You kids go have fun, and stay out of trouble. We'll see you when you get back!”
“Hey,” Allen said, “don't forget tomorrow is pot luck Sunday at church. Good eatin', there, Darren, you oughta come join us!”
Darren held a thumb up in the air. “Free food? Hey, you know I'm in!” He took Katie by the arm and turned her toward the door, and they left as quickly as they could without making it obvious that they wanted to get away. They got into Darren's new Corvette, and were off for a day on Lake Hunnicutt.
Darren's family owned a big pontoon boat that they kept on the lake, so big that they'd had some pretty impressive parties on it. It was easy to operate, though, and he and Katie had taken it out a couple of times before. They liked the peacefulness and solitude of being out on the
big lake, all alone with nature. Darren would put a couple of lines out and do some fishing, and Katie liked to lie on the padded deck and soak up some rays. Somewhere along the way, they'd find themselves lying there together, and just enjoying one another. Katie loved those moments, and did all she could to make sure Darren knew it. She was planning for this day to be one that he'd remember for a long, long time.
It was a wonderful day. The live well had four big, beautiful bass swimming around as they waited to become dinner, and Katie Lou had a freshly enhanced tan, and both of them had smiles on their faces as Darren tucked the boat back into its slip and tied it off. He'd surprised her with a bottle of wine; they rarely drank any kind of alcohol, but it just seemed right, so they enjoyed a toast to one another and to their future, and the slight buzz it brought on made everything else more enjoyable, too, which was fine by both of them.
Katie Lou pulled her shorts and blouse back on, and they got into the car to head for Sosebee's Restaurant, where Darren had made dinner reservations. Katie had chuckled to herself when he told her, because you didn't need a reservation at Sosebee's; the place was nice, but she'd never once seen it so busy that she couldn't get a table. Darren just liked to pretend they were already living in a bigger city, as they planned to do once they were married. He had his sights on moving to St. Louis, and while Katie was a little apprehensive about living in a big urban center, she was the type of girl who would go where her man went.
With Darren's plans for a future political career, staying in small-town Missouri just wouldn't work out, and she had accepted that. He'd been out of school for almost two years, working in his father's law firm there in Ralston, but he'd gotten offers from a couple of larger firms when he graduated near the top of his class. One of them, Matthews and Johnson, had agreed to a two-year delay, so that he could keep a promise he had made to his father to come and work two years back home. It was time for him to make the move, and Katie Lou knew that he was more than ready. The only thing that was holding him back was waiting for the wedding, and it was almost upon them. As soon as it was over, they would be flying off to Cancun for their honeymoon, and as soon as they got back, they'd be loading a truck and heading for St. Louis. They'd already made a few trips up there, and had chosen a beautiful apartment that would be their first home together.
Matthews and Johnson was more than just a law firm, though; it was also part of the Republican campaign network in St. Louis, and through some of his father's connections, Darren had already caught the eye of some of the party's top people. It was already planned that, once he was fully installed at the firm, he would be groomed for the House of Representatives, and that would be only a first step on a political career that had much higher aims.
With her seat leaned back and her head resting against it, Katie was letting herself dream about how wonderful it was going to be,. Darren was holding her hand in his right, as he drove with his left, and she loved the feeling of his grip. It reminded her that he would be her provider and her protector, and would give her all the love and affection she needed, for the rest of her life. It made her feel warm and loved and secure.
She felt his grip on her hand loosen, and opened her eyes to see what had drawn his attention, but for a second she couldn't figure out what she was seeing. Darren's head was leaning forward, and his eyes were closed as if he were praying, or sleeping, and suddenly she realized that he'd fallen asleep behind the wheel, and she called his name as she looked forward…
The road curved to the left, but they continued straight, and suddenly she felt the impact as the front end of the long sports car struck the tree. Everything went into slow motion, and she saw the plastic and fiberglass begin to crumple, saw the spider web of cracks appear to slither across the windshield, saw the airbag explode out toward her, but something snapped, and she felt herself launched forward, the airbag on her chest as she seemed to slide up and over it, and then the glass was everywhere as she went through the windshield. She lost consciousness then, and never felt herself flung through the air. She barely missed hitting the trunk of the tree that had stopped the lightweight car dead in its tracks, instead flying past it and, by some miracle, turning as she flew, landing on her back when she finally hit the ground. She bounced a couple of times, skimming across the ground and finally coming to rest in the middle of a clearing.
The driver of another car that was not far behind them saw it all and called 911 immediately, then stopped to see if he could help. When he found Katie Lou lying on the ground fifteen feet in front of the wrecked car, his first assumption was that she was dead, so he turned his attentions to the man behind the wheel.
Darren's seat belt had held, and his airbag had deployed properly. He was badly bruised, with a broken nose and a couple of cracked ribs, but in general his injuries were minor. When paramedics arrived a few minutes later, they found Darren conscious and sitting on the ground beside the car, though he seemed dazed and incoherent. He knew his name, but couldn't remember who had been in the car with him at first.
Though she wasn't dead after all, Katie Lou was in far worse condition. The first thing the paramedics did was stabilize her neck and spine with braces and a backboard. When they couldn't get a consistent pulse and found her blood pressure to be dangerously low, the decision was made to call in a Life Flight, and Katie was loaded into a helicopter that landed in the road, right there at the scene, twenty minutes later. She was flown to the University of Missouri School of Medicine, at Columbia, where she was immediately rushed into the trauma unit on life support. Trauma surgeons were called in, and one of them brought in a neurosurgeon to consult, who ended up taking over her case.
* * * * *
Allen Brennan was kicked back in his recliner, his shoes on the floor below his dangling feet and a movie on the big-screen TV in front of him. He wasn't sure what the movie's title was, but it involved fast cars and guns, and that was enough to get him interested. Anything that had those two items was a good thing, in his opinion.
He heard the phone ring, and then his wife, Judy, answering it. He didn't like phones, because as far as he was concerned, when they rang it always meant one of three things: someone wanted something, someone wanted to sell you something, or someone was giving you bad news.
The sudden panic in his wife's voice told him that this time, it was option number three, and a cold dread settled into his heart. He was up and out of the recliner instantly as Judy said, “Yes, of course! Where? Where is she?”
“What's wrong?” he asked as he hurried into the kitchen, but his wife only waved a hand to shush him.
“Okay, we'll go right now. Thank you, thank you for letting us know!” She hung the phone up on the wall and turned to Allen. “That was a dispatcher at the police department. Darren and Katie were in a car wreck, and they've flown her to Columbia Medical School. Allen, they said she's in critical condition, she was thrown through the windshield...”
“Let's go,” he said, turning to go back for his shoes. He snatched the keys to their car off the end table and waited impatiently for his wife to get her purse and whatever else she needed. She followed him out the door.
As Allen drove, Judy used her cell phone to learn more, and found that Darren was being treated at the local hospital, and wasn't hurt badly at all. She called his phone and he answered.
“Judy? Oh, God,” he said, “I am so sorry! I don't know what happened, the car just went out of control...”
“Darren, that's okay,” Judy said, “we'll worry about all that later, but we're on the way to see Katie Lou, and she's sure to ask how you're doing. What are the doctors saying?”
“They just said I've got a broken nose and some cracked ribs,” he said (though it sounded more like “bwok-ed doze”), “and that's all. I heard they flew Katie to Columbia, though, and that she's in bad shape?”
Judy sighed. “That's all we know, too, right now. You rest up, and we'll let you know what we find out.”
She called their y
ounger daughter, Kylie, who was off with friends in Florida, but got no answer. She didn't want to leave bad news in a voicemail message, so she tried to sound normal as she asked Kylie to call her back as soon as she got the message.
Columbia was a bit more than an hour away, but Allen didn't plan on taking that long to get there. He knew right where the medical school was, because he'd had to go there for a minor operation a few years ago. He could be there in forty-five minutes if he really tried, but he didn't push it quite that hard. The last thing he needed at the moment was a speeding ticket, so he kept it to just a hair more than five miles an hour over the limit, and took every shortcut he knew along the way. The whole drive took him fifty-four minutes, he noted as he parked outside the ER.
The front desk of the ER was busy, but Allen wasn't trying to be seen. He caught the eye of a nurse who was toward the back, and got her to come to him.
“We're looking for our daughter, she came in by helicopter,” he said. “Katie Lou Brennan is her name, can you help us, please?”
The nurse gave him a sympathetic look, and pointed down a hallway. “She's in exam room seventeen,” she said. “I'm working with her now. Can either of you help me with her insurance information?”
Allen looked her in the eye. “I'm sure we can,” he said, “but not until we see our daughter.” He turned and headed down the hall in the direction she had indicated. The nurse nodded sadly, and Judy felt a stab of fear as she followed him.
Entering Katie Lou's room did nothing to ease that feeling. Their daughter, their beautiful little daughter, whose auburn hair had natural streaks of blonde in it, their lovely little girl who was only five foot one and had yet to ever make it to a hundred pounds, the girl who was head cheerleader the last two years of high school and got her degree in psychology, their daughter, who despite being twenty-two years old would forever be a nine year old in their hearts, was laying there with tubes and wires attached to her in so many places that she looked like something from a science-fiction movie about people who were half human and half machine.